Hughes denied he was letting disappointment get the better of him and added: “It’s not sour grapes. If we’d got the award and scored from it I think it would have won the Cup because it would have been the only goal of the game.

“It was the moment that changed the game. But having said that, I thought the referee had a good match and I’m not trying to be critical of him.”

That much was shown when Hughes was asked about Aberdeen’s penalty claim, which came when Adam Rooney tumbled under a Josh Meekings challenge.

Yogi dismissed the incident and said: “That was a dive.”

And he refused to point the finger of blame at any of his own players for their display.

He added: “They’re all heroes in my eyes. It was anybody’s match once we got to the penalty shoot-out but I was proud of our boys.

“They gave it a right good shot and it could so easily have been our day.

“Our game plan and tactics were spot on. But you have to congratulate Aberdeen.”